title: [Immigrant generation and diabetes risk among Mexican Americans: the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined whether acculturation and immigrant generation, a marker for assimilation, are associated with diabetes risk in an aging Mexican origin population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data on 1789 adults aged 60 to 101 years from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging. We ascertained type 2 diabetes on the basis of diabetic medication use, self-report of physician diagnosis, or a fasting glucose of 126 milligrams/deciliter or greater. Logistic regression modeled prevalent diabetes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adjusting for age and gender, we observed significant but divergent associations between immigrant generation, acculturation, and diabetes risk. Relative to first-generation adults, second-generation adults had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4, 2.4) and third-generation adults had an OR of 2.1 (95% CI = 1.4, 3.1) of having diabetes. Greater US acculturation, however, was associated with a slightly decreased diabetes rate. In the full model adjusting for socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, the association between generation (but not acculturation) and diabetes remained significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study lends support to the previously contested notion that assimilation is associated with an increased diabetes risk in Mexican immigrants. Researchers should examine the presence of a causal link between assimilation and health more closely.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina, Universidad de California en San Francisco, San Francisco, Estados Unidos de América, Aimee.afable-munsuz@downstate.edu.
authors.forename: Aimee
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afable-Munsuz
authors.forename: Elizabeth Rose
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Mayeda
authors.forename: Eliseo J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Pérez-Stable
authors.forename: Mary N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Haan
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D004032:Diet; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose